A History of the Rotary Club of Hawthorn the First 40 Years: 1953-1993
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A HISTORY OF THE ROTARY CLUB OF HAWTHORN THE FIRST 40 YEARS: 1953-1993 BILL JOHNSTONE, STUART HICKMAN, BERN HAMES, BRUCE SMITH & GEOFF STEVENS Contents Foreword 1 Publisher Rotary Club of Hawthorn Inc PO Box 33 Introduction 3 Hawthorn Victoria 3122 Registered Office C/- Rennick & Gaynor The Formative Years to 1953 5 431 Riversdale Rd Hawthorn East Victoria 3123 2 Men Who Made Things Happen, 1953-1963 13 Copyright© Rotary Club of Hawthorn Inc, 1993 3 Men Who Made Things Happen, 1963-1973 35 All rights reserved Supporting information extracted from 4 Men Who Made Things Happen, 1973-1983 49 Rotracker software via John Waters Word processing, Heather Steadman 5 Men Who Made Things Happen, 1983-1993 57 Printed William Troedel & Company Pty Ltd Montrose Place Hawthorn Victoria 3122 6 Club Service 75 A History of the Rotary Club of Hawthorn ISBN 0 958 9065 2 1 7 Vocational Service 91 8 Community Service 95 9 International Service 109 Appendix 121 Foreword This excellent history of 40 years of Rotary service by the Rotary Club of Hawthorn highlights in a very telling way how contributions by many individuals gradually set a standard of leadership, friendship and service that has become the hallmark of Rotary in Hawthorn today. The club was fortunate to be moulded into the full meaning of Rotary by men who took Rotary seriously, but not themselves, and who had the right spirit and experience to set a standard on which the club has built so ably. I personally recall many of the Rotarians named and enjoyed their friendship. I also gained much from their knowledge and encouragement. As you read through this interesting history, it becomes obvious that each term of office and each new year brought to the club a high standard of leadership, with new ideas and initiatives, and, importantly, much pleasure to so many Rotarians. From this environment, Rotary projects and programs developed for the benefit of individuals and communities locally and internationally. The threads of friendship and service, clearly seen in these pages, will be remembered with affection by those who travelled the road together, and with admiration by those who have joined the club in later years. Congratulations to all who have been part of the history of the Rotary Club of Hawthorn. May this record of achievement help to influence the current membership to continue to set a standard of excellence for many years to come. A. H. R. (Royce) Abbey, AM, DCM President Rotary International 1988-89 Essendon, July 1993 Introduction This report on the activities of the Rotary Club of Hawthorn during its first 40 years has been compiled at the request of President Terry Perree 1993-94, Immediate Past President Bill Troedel, and with the support of each of their boards. For the early years it relies heavily on the club history 1953-67 compiled by charter Treasurer Bill Johnstone, assisted in later years by Past President Stuart Hickman. That valuable account is now out of print. We have also drawn extensively on the 30-year history (also out of print) by Bern Hames. Other sources of information have been presidents' annual reports where, year by year, achievements are summarised; board minutes, which sadly are not complete; committee chairmen's records of the work of their groups; weekly club bulletins; and interviews with various members for whose co-operation thanks are due. The 1992 talk by charter members Charlie Fryer and Jack Cathie about their recollections of the early days of our club was supplemented by them. We are grateful for their eye-witness news. Our sincere thanks go also to Robert Drewett of the Rotary Club of Bacchus Marsh for making available on disk the text of the two earlier volumes. This has greatly assisted consolidation, and hopefully the production of the Golden Anniversary edition will be an easy task. Future historians and editors could give more consideration to pictorial history and ensure that suitable sharp contrast black-and-white or colour photos are taken of major events, so that the Golden Anniversary history may be an improvement on this volume. A good relevant picture is still worth a thousand words and writers are aided enormously if they have a selection of photos to illustrate their story. When decimal currency was introduced into Australia on 15 February 1966 there was a good deal of confusion. At the time of the change, one guinea was equivalent to $2.10 and £1 equalled $2. Inflation since has drastically reduced the value of the 1966 dollar. Some comparisons have been included throughout the text. Currency amounts stated can be misleading unless allowance is made for these changes in value. In 1953 a worker earning £1000 a year - £20 a week - was relatively well paid. When average wages exceeded $400 a week 3 Rotary Club of Hawthorn four decades later, it became hard to compare amounts raised in 1953 with 1 those in 1993. Sadly also annual audited financial accounts have been more conspicuous by their absence than inclusion in presidents' annual reports. Various sub-editors have helped to verify facts in the text, reading THE FORMATIVE YEARS seemingly interminable first, second and subsequent drafts. The final editing was done by Jane Drury, to whom we extend our grateful thanks. TO 1953 Inevitably, some important items will have been overlooked. Slippery memories are an increasing hazard as time goes by. Some presidents have been too modest in recording events of their year. We hope that they feel flattered by understatement rather than damned by faint praise. For such omissions, and Forty years may not seem long in the context of recorded history, but time is for opinions that differ from those of the reader, the historians cheerfully relative. To a leader like Moses and his people, who spent that term in the accept responsibility. However, enough has been recorded to show that the wilderness, it was a long time. In more modern times the USSR enslaved Rotary Club of Hawthorn has been, and still is, a lively, active body with a countries after World War 11 and their people have just been released into proud record of service, which has been relevant and helpful in its community freedom again after 40 years, while the USSR has gone out of existence. What and very widely beyond it in each of its 40 years. Of course we are getting matters is what happened in those years. This history attempts to record what older, as district governors feel bound to remind us, and the club constantly happened in the Rotary Club of Hawthorn between 1953 and 1993. needs the infusion of young blood. We invite these many newcomers to take a In the early 1950s, Australia was vastly different. Its population of a little deep dose of history to help them to do better in their day and generation. over 12 million was almost exclusively of British descent. It had just emerged Changes must come, but since the basic principle of Rotary is friendship, it from almost five years of World War 11 during which hundreds of thousands of is to be hoped that our club will do well in coming years and maintain that its men and women enlisted voluntarily for service in the armed forces. By spirit of friendliness, that cheerful good fellowship, and that camaraderie that 1949 Australia was emerging from wartime shortages and rationing. Oil have characterised its first 40 years. exploration had not started. Mining was a very unsophisticated affair and the pick and shovel were the order of the day. Jet aircraft had not invaded the Bruce Smith and Geoff Stevens skies. High-rise building was confined to St Patrick's spire on Eastern Hill, Club historians which had to have a light on top to warn aircraft. We had our first Australian Hawthorn, December 1993 car. Petrol was less than 4s 6d a gallon and there were no petrol price wars. We had no freeways but the roads were not choked because few people had cars. Huge suburban parking lots and supermarkets were not even on the drawingboards. We were not long out of the days of the Coolgardie safe and ice chest for preserving food. Arthur Calwell had pioneered our immigra- tion program to meet needs for skilled and unskilled labour for which 'old' Australians had either no talent or no will. Our railways and major construction projects such as the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme could not have proceeded without it. 'Ecology' and 'pollution' were words not heard by the man in the street. Having children was normal; getting married beforehand was usual. There has been much learning and change in the last 40 years but some 4 vital things have remained. Man has had a need for friends in all generations. 5 Rotary Club of Hawthorn The Formative Years to 1953 When a New England lawyer settled in Chicago in 1905, his desperate Northcote, Melbourne South and Brunswick ( 1952 ) having preceded it in the loneliness gave birth to Rotary. It has progressed in the 88 years since by years after the war. meeting mankind's need for friendship in remarkable ways. Rotary spread first It is interesting to speculate why Rotary took so long to expand into the to Canada in 1911, then to Dublin and London, and thus became Rotary Inter- eastern suburbs. Perhaps the lack of industrial development was a major factor. national (RI). UK leaders required special provisions and it is known there as At that time membership of Rotary was possible only if one's place of business Rotary International in the British Isles (RIB I).